Ash Hunter
Ash is a somewhat hypocritical anti-violence advocate, who is known to succumb to uncontrollable bursts of rage. He has a criminal record due to one of these outbursts and he is also notorious for being late and missing appointments. His lateness to an anti-Yates protest does not halt his involvement in the Nexus Battle and despite his flaws, he is an inherently kind person. Fictional History Early Life Ash is an extremely passionate person and it has gotten him into trouble in the past. Despite suffering from uncontrolled berserker rages himself, he is an open advocate against violence in the media, specifically as produced by the underhanded company Macrohard. His outbursts have given him a criminal record for protest violence. 2007 (PEH2) Ash is also habitually late to everything. While he intended to be at the same protest that Nate Valdez attended, his tardiness caused him to miss the event. However, he still managed to belatedly receive a copy of Fiona Braddock's Nexus Disc and make his way into the video game world as a part of the army against Macrohard's insidious virus. While arriving late to the battle, Ash was still able to help turn the tide of battle and stop Phillip Yates from contaminating Eddie Naka's video game worlds. His participation in the battle of Delta Halo introduced Ash to the likes of Miles Spectre, Elias Locke, Julie Lien, and Nate Valdez and he soon became a staple amongst their group of friends. However, he also earned the attention of a far more insidious group of people. 2009 (PEH3) Ash's participation in the first Game War had caused some employees of Macrohard to take notice of his somewhat violent personality traits. As such, when a search for the Tri-Force of Wisdom left it's former bearer Sally Rouge dead, Amethyst Barone and her Nexus Program pinned the attack on the easily blamed Ash Hunter. His Donkey Kong tie, a garment he wore on Delta Halo, was left at the scene of the crime to throw off the authorities. Unfortunately, Ash's excessive tardiness also destroyed any hope he had of an alibi. The Nexus's attack on Sally took place at the same time as the funeral of Sally's ex-boyfriend, Miles Spectre; an event that Ash slept straight through. His absence was noticed by many at the funeral and his brother Bean Hunter could not argue in his favor when Nick Oshima commented on Ash's lack of attendance. Ash's lateness would also cause him to catch the aftermath of one of Nate's verbal beat-downs at the hand of Elias. Anxious to escape his evil roommate, Nate opted not to wait for his slowpoke friend and go meet up with Julie on his own. Ash arrived shortly after Nate left and threw a small tantrum before calming himself and noting the kitchen fire that Elias had been oblivious to. The next time Ash failed to appear at Eli's Apartment was not his fault, despite what his friends thought. The cops had found Ash's tie in Sally's house and though his instinct was to run, Ash was eventually caught and hauled off by the police. Ash found himself locked up with a collection of criminals who all seemed to rally around one man in particular: a man by the name of Nack. When their next-cell neighbor reached into Ash and Nack's cell to screw with Ash, it was Nack who consoled him and won his trust. This was cemented further after Julie arrived and threatened Ash's life for allegedly killing her best friend Sally. Ash assured everyone that he was not the murderer, but Julie refused to listen and Ash would be forced to stand by the only person who would listen to him: Nack. That same night, unbeknownst to Ash, Nack was planning a break-out with his outside accomplice Amethyst Barone, who was also the woman who framed Ash for Sally's murder. Their plan was to activate a program that would grant them video game powers and even allow them to control the minds of anybody utilizing powers that their company Macrohard had designed, facilitating an army for world domination. Since Ash was already linked to a Nintega character from the previous game war, they were unable to program their own powers to him and hence unable to control his mind in any way. But never one to waste a valuable soldier, Nack convinced Amethyst that he had earned Ash's trust and after a rallying of his fellow inmates, Nack activated the device and granted he and his cellmates the power to break free of their bondage. Ash stood by them as they knocked out the security guard and made their escape. Ash reluctantly followed Nack and his army, seeing as he had no other option besides going back to prison for a murder he didn't commit. He quickly realized that the motives of this collection of convict went well beyond earning respect as Nack had proclaimed. The others seemed to kill innocent people for fun and while he remained in league with them, he tried to protect people from his own comrades as often as he could. Despite this, his mere association with this group caught the attention of the press and a news broadcast of the attacks revealed to Julie that Ash must certainly be the criminal he was accused of being. Julie proceeded to lead a team of Ash's friends in a seige on their new headquarters in Staten Island, with her sights set firmly on avenging Sally. Shortly before Julie's arrival in the abandoned shack they now called home, Ash came out and questioned the motives of his new allies, accusing Nack of lies and instigating a mind-controlled Fiona Braddock to hold him at gunpoint. Nack calmed the situation and assured the team that Ash would not falter under pressure. He than revealed that his own motive for keeping Ash on the team was primarily the fact that Ash's Donkey Kong persona reminded him of the zoo's he visited as a child. Nack's insanity was quickly becoming apparent to Ash, but he was in too deep to get out now. When Julie and her troops arrived, Ash attempted to avoid the conflict as best he could, hiding away from the villains he was allied with and the friends that had arrived to stop him. He was first caught by his former comrade from the first Game War, Father Morgan. Ash quickly dispatched him and unintentionally saved the life of his newly resurrected friend Miles by tossing Father Morgan into the mind-controlled Fiona who was trying end his life a second time. Shortly after that, Ash's brother Bean arrived, having seen him in the news broadcast as well. Bean had also been effected by the program and took on the persona of Diddy Kong. He ran through the battle and tried to get Ash to leave with him, though Ash replied that he had no where else to go. They were soon attacked by Ash's criminal teammate Menniker, whom the quickly took down together. The ruckus of Menniker versus the Hunter brothers caught Julie's attention and she abandoned all other efforts to pin Ash to a wall, while Menniker struck back and engaged Bean in combat. With a gun to his neck, Julie demanded to know why Ash had killed her best friend. Ash explained that he did not and that he missed Miles funeral because he overslept, not because he was at Sally's home in South Carolina. Ash then remembered that Nack had known where Sally lived without Ash mentioning it to him. Piecing two and two together, Ash realized that he had been set up by his villainous teammates. He attempted to convince Julie of the truth in this and she seemed to slowly understand. Her epiphany had to be postponed however, when Ash saw his nemesis and reluctant teammate Drago hurl his blade at an unsuspecting Julie. Reacting on instinct, Ash grabbed Julie and twisted her out of the path of the blade, causing it to strike him in the back instead. Julie slowly lowered Ash to the ground, apologizing for what she'd inadvertently caused. Ash's last request was that Julie put a stop to Drago's violence. Which is what she did. Permanently. After ending his battle with Menniker, Bean found his brothers body and ran to his side, trying desperately to wake him up. With little success, and the battle eventually over, medical officers moved Ash's body outside, where he slowly reverted from his Donkey Kong persona, back to his true self. Soon after, Julie, Nate, Elias, Miles, Fiona, and Eddie Naka would visit Ash's funeral. There Julie left him a Fire Flower and admitted that despite her actions in the past, she knew now that Ash was indeed a hero. Production Notes *Ash is played by Dom Davis. :*Dom Davis is the real-life brother of Tommy Davis, who plays his onscreen brother Bean. *Ash's name was not revealed until the third film of the series. :*In the second film, he was credited as "Late Guy." *Ash is 1 of only 2 characters to be promoted from a cameo role to a primary role between 2 films. :*The other being Amethyst Barone. *Dom Davis was originally approached for the role of Bowser in PEH2, but had to turn it down due to a scheduling conflict. The role of Donkey Kong was written in to at least give Davis a cameo in the film. :*Jess Mermelstien who plays Amethyst, had a very similar situation. *Ash's full name is derived from two characters hailing from the Archie Comics Sonic Universe: :*ASH is the first name of Ash Mongoose, a music industry specialist who dated & managed the music career Sonic's on-again-off-again girlfriend Mina. This made Ash and Sonic antagonistic of one another, though they have since reconciled. :*HUNTER is the name of an overlander and poacher who seeks to exterminate all Mobians in what he deems a sportsman-like game of hunting. He is a rival of Knuckles the Echidna and responsible for the death of many of the inhabitants of Angel Island. Category:Main Characters